7 Ways How Rajiv Gandhi Changed India Forever

The youngest Prime Minister of India, Rajeev Gandhi was instrumental in bringing the nation to new heights of development and sustainability. The young leader served the nation as Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989 when he was just 40 years old. His young thinking and distinctive political approach was the key aspect to match the pace of rising industrial and economic scenario through the globe. The result of his endless efforts in late 80’s to set foundation of the nation as a developed country can be seen even in 21st century where India is emerging as a global industrial power among all the nations. Let’s uncover some potions of Rajeev Gandhi Biography to find out how he changed the India.

Telecom Revolution

Rajeev Gandhi was the first political leader to encourage the nation toward digital age.He is often termed in India as Rajiv Gandhi the Father of Information Technology and Telecom Revolution. Under his leadership, he played an important role in development of Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT). The organisation was set up in August 1984 to develop top of the chart telecommunication technology in the nation to meet the merging needs of Indian telecommunication network.

The C-DOT organisation brought the revolution in the communication infrastructure of India by setting up its root in towns and even villages to ensure a wide array of connectivity for the benefit of Indian population.

PCO Revolution

Rajeev Gandhi biography states that the PCO revolution also took place in India under his administration. PCO (short for public call office) booths were the key entity to connect the distant locations including metros, small cities and remote villages of the Nation.

Introduction to technology missions

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited was established in 1986 which was the pioneer telecom network of India. MTNL was incorporated under the vision of Rajeev Gandhi to connect the vast nation seamlessly. In his administration, he introduced six technology missions which were related with telecommunications, water, literacy, immunisation, dairy and oil seeds under the advisory of Sam Pitroda.

Computerisation

Rajiv Gandhi biography portray that he was responsible for promotion of science and technology in the nation along with its associated industries. He reduced the duties, tariffs and taxes of these industries including computers, telecommunications, defence and airlines.

Voting Age

With a vision to empower the youth of the nation, Rajeev Gandhi lowered the age of voting from 21 years to 18 years. His efforts in 1989 to pass the 61st Amendment Act of the Constitution made it possible for the young generation of nation to choose Lok Sabha MPs and MLAs in the states.

Panchayati Raj

In order to bring democracy to the grassroots level, Rajeev Gandhi introduced the Panchayti raj in Nation. Although the motion of Panchayti Raj was passed in 1992 after the assassination of Rajeev Gandhi by the 73rd and the 74th Amendments, the foundation to this motion was set under his Prime Ministry.

Education

Another major achievement depicted by Rajeev Gandhi Biography is that he introduced National Policy on Education (NPE) in 1986 to strengthen higher education programmes in India. Residential schools were set up in villages to find out the hidden talent in rural India. These schools go by the name of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas which provide free residential education from class 6th to 12th.

These were some of the major contribution which we find in Rajeev Gandhi biography which changed the entire picture of the nation and strengthen it to incorporate new and emerging global cultures.